Public sector staff allowed to work from foreign countries
THOUSANDS of staff at taxpayer-funded quangos have been given permission to work from the beach, a shock investigation finds.
They have been granted permission to work from abroad over 2,000 times since 2019, research by the TaxPayers’ Alliance found.
The most common countries that staff were given permission to work from were Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland.
They include the HM Inspectorate of Probation which allowed someone to work from Spain “three days prior to taking annual leave, where all meetings were undertaken remotely”.
And the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science which allowed a staff member to visit family during autumn school break.
Some quango staff have been allowed to work in Chile, Singapore and Australia.
Joanna Marchong, investigations campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers are growing ever more curious about what on earth the vast network of quangos are actually doing, and why so much power has been devolved to them.
“Ministers have handed significant control of services and policy to unelected bodies frequently not based in London, limiting further their ability to hold them to account.
“And it’s now been revealed that many staff are not just based outside of London, they’re often not based in the UK at all.”
Councils blasted for flying woke flags
LABOUR councils have been blasted for flying woke flags for migrants, trans people and other countries like Albania.
They include Waltham Forest flying the Trans Pride Flag, Birmingham City with a Europe Day flag and Oxford City with a world refugee day pendant. Waltham Forest has flown the national flag of Albania.
Shadow local government secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: “This is a totally inappropriate waste of council time.”
It comes as the Conservatives warned taxpayers will foot the bill for a new army of “Town Hall Trots”.
They said Labour’s workers rights bill will force up council tax because local authorities will have to spend more on “facility time” – paying trade union representatives during work hours.
Labour hit back: “Labour is turning the page on the scorched earth approach to industrial relations we inherited from the Tories.”
A government spokesman said: “We expect civil servants to spend the majority of time working from the office, and working outside of the UK must only be approved for exceptional personal circumstances such as bereavement.
“Many of these organisations stated do not employ civil servants and have their own working abroad policies.
“We are currently reviewing all arm’s length bodies to examine where organisations can be closed, merged, or have powers brought back into the department.”